what does it mean?
In John 3 Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, who was a religious leader. Jesus is explaining to him what being born again means.
John 3 King James Version (KJV)
3 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus is saying you must be born of the Spirit,
We all have had a natural birth into this world, to be born again we must have a spiritual birth,
we must reach a point where we determine we can do nothing on our own to escape the sin state and that we must look to Jesus and be saved.
We all come up short on our own.
Once we understand this and accept Christ we are born into the family of God.
Does this mean we are perfect as Christ was? No.
does this mean that life will be perfect and all sunshine happiness? No.
It means that we have freely surrendered ourselves to Christ, and we have become followers of Christ hence the term Christian.
After the acceptance of Christ as your personal Savior there is the Baptism, which is full immersion in water to show that we are making our decision public.
We are following Christ's example by being baptized, symbolizing our spiritual birth and declaring our allegiance. Baptism in and of itself has no meaning other than the symbolism involved. Baptism is not necessary for Salvation,
Once we are born again we must then build up the spiritual side that has been born. As with the physical growth of a baby, so is the growth of our spiritual side. It is a process, we must feed and nurture the new man and make it strong.
Just because the term Christian has become so generic and misused nowadays does not take away from the significance of being a follower of Christ.
Just because someone calls themselves a christian does not mean they are. A true conversion is apparent over time, just as a fake is apparent.
While we born again christians strive to live a life as Christ would have us do, we are still burdened with our sin nature. We will make mistakes and fail.
The true convert will fall yet will rise again. The fake will not.
The true christian will do whatever they can to further the cause of God and His Will despite their failures and sin. When the storm, trials, and testing come the true christian will stand firm on the principles of God's Word(eventually). The false convert will tuck his tail between his legs and go the easy way.
But as Christ said there is no way to tell the wheat from the chaff except at harvest time.
Remember christian is an honorable name. A great calling. And Christ is the only way to heaven.
Does this mean we are to turn the other cheek when attacked or cursed or persecuted? No. We are to witness to our enemy. trying to turn them to Christ.
Those not of our faith are to be shown an example of who Christ is. and of His love for them. He died for all.
However, Christ also stood against the wrongs and the injustices of his day. He spoke out about the corruption and sin He saw. He did not stand by and watch in silence. He called them out on their sin.
Love as Christ showed us is all-encompassing, without condoning. Love the sinner, hate the sin.
We are not to be wimpy soft talkers, We are to go in boldness in the name of Christ.
In John 3 Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, who was a religious leader. Jesus is explaining to him what being born again means.
John 3 King James Version (KJV)
3 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus is saying you must be born of the Spirit,
We all have had a natural birth into this world, to be born again we must have a spiritual birth,
we must reach a point where we determine we can do nothing on our own to escape the sin state and that we must look to Jesus and be saved.
We all come up short on our own.
Once we understand this and accept Christ we are born into the family of God.
Does this mean we are perfect as Christ was? No.
does this mean that life will be perfect and all sunshine happiness? No.
It means that we have freely surrendered ourselves to Christ, and we have become followers of Christ hence the term Christian.
After the acceptance of Christ as your personal Savior there is the Baptism, which is full immersion in water to show that we are making our decision public.
We are following Christ's example by being baptized, symbolizing our spiritual birth and declaring our allegiance. Baptism in and of itself has no meaning other than the symbolism involved. Baptism is not necessary for Salvation,
Once we are born again we must then build up the spiritual side that has been born. As with the physical growth of a baby, so is the growth of our spiritual side. It is a process, we must feed and nurture the new man and make it strong.
Just because the term Christian has become so generic and misused nowadays does not take away from the significance of being a follower of Christ.
Just because someone calls themselves a christian does not mean they are. A true conversion is apparent over time, just as a fake is apparent.
While we born again christians strive to live a life as Christ would have us do, we are still burdened with our sin nature. We will make mistakes and fail.
The true convert will fall yet will rise again. The fake will not.
The true christian will do whatever they can to further the cause of God and His Will despite their failures and sin. When the storm, trials, and testing come the true christian will stand firm on the principles of God's Word(eventually). The false convert will tuck his tail between his legs and go the easy way.
But as Christ said there is no way to tell the wheat from the chaff except at harvest time.
Remember christian is an honorable name. A great calling. And Christ is the only way to heaven.
Does this mean we are to turn the other cheek when attacked or cursed or persecuted? No. We are to witness to our enemy. trying to turn them to Christ.
Those not of our faith are to be shown an example of who Christ is. and of His love for them. He died for all.
However, Christ also stood against the wrongs and the injustices of his day. He spoke out about the corruption and sin He saw. He did not stand by and watch in silence. He called them out on their sin.
Love as Christ showed us is all-encompassing, without condoning. Love the sinner, hate the sin.
We are not to be wimpy soft talkers, We are to go in boldness in the name of Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment